User blog:Pikazilla/Shaolin Monk Review
This is by far the biggest paradox of any warrior I’m aware of: a warrior PACIFIST. I understand the mentality of the Shaolin; they are monks, not armies, and so had to use what they can. This sounds a lot like a Ninja, and some historians believe that the Ninja were influenced by Shaolin martial artists. However Ninjas were rebels and assassins; they needed to be lethal. Shaolin, being pacifists, see no reason to launch a war: even during times of persecution. But Shaolin Monks were able to avoid persecution in the longterm, especially since not all eras of China persecuted Buddhists. Ninja meanwhile were always the repressed minority and did not have the same ethical restraints. The Shaolin still had to defend themselves against bandits, so even in peacetime they would train daily for several hours: and with absurd methods (leaning on spearpoints, pain tollerance through self harm, surviving getting hung by a noose). But while bandits are a threat; they don’t have the audacity to launch total war, especially since the Shaolin are indeed effective combatants. This means that the Shaolin only need to defend themselves and get these bandits to retreat: they don’t need to be killers. But since I am discussing warriors, this pacifism gives the Shaolin an unusual tool-set. They do have steel weapons, but they also want to avoid killing. I consider dividing the Shaolin weapons as ‘self-defense tools’ and ‘actual weapons’. Staffs, whips, daggers: these are weapons that a Shaolin can hide or bring into a town without alerting anyone, but are available for if he suddenly gets ambushed. With that said, this restraint is exactly what other warriors avoid. If your enemy is not ko’d, he’s still a threat: and if they have a shield or armor, these weapons are basically useless. The reason why Shaolin are so focused on martial arts is because they want this middle-ground of not being too violent but not being defenseless: a conflicting combination. That and if you are just a monk, and you can’t afford armor: then I guess flips and agility are the best way to flee from a heavyweight warrior. I will also mention that Kung Fu is a bit overrated for me: considering that there are so many martial arts in the world. Kung Fu is normally combined with the lightweight weapons of the Shaolin to complement their agility and to fight relatively unarmored or lightly armored opponents. But let’s compare this to Pankration: it’s designed for having no weapons and was used by Greeks, who did have an intense military culture; meaning it complements the brutality of a Spartan with the specific scenario of if the warrior gets disarmed. Then you have Half-Swording: which might look silly in the idea of grabbing your blade, but that’s to use the sword to aggressively bash or push around Knight armor. And then you got modern infantry martial arts like Spetsnaz Systema: which is all about disarming guns and using flips that, despite being goofy, does indeed allow the Spetsnaz to move around corners or while prone while maintaining the effective use of his gun. My point is: every martial art has its own benefits but also is not flexible for every situation. There is no science behind what is the best martial art in the world since all of them have their own purpose. If the Shaolin does need to get lethal; they do actually have exotic options as seen with the Twin Hook Swords and the Wind and Fire Wheels. Both of these weapons are effective at medium range and have a complex yet flexible design of hooks, spikes and hand-guards that, in theory, would allow the Shaolin to adapt to almost any swordsman, spearman or axeman. The Twin Hook Sword even has hooks that can catch and pull on shields or other weapons to disarm the opponent. Weaknesses Even if considering only the most lethal weapons of the Shaolin; it faces similar weaknesses with a Ninja, except that a Ninja can use camo and stealth to flee or ambush while Shaolin are in BRIGHT ORANGE robes (this along with their shaved heads make it impossible to hide in a crowd). The Shaolin have no defenses against arrows other than to flee (Mythbusters confirmed that deflecting arrows is extremely unlikely, even under controlled scenarios) and lack the armor to engage in intense close combat. If I was a Shaolin fighting, let’s say, a Samurai: I would want to use a Spear or Jian Sword to stab at the unarmored parts of his body while maintaining a midranged distance. If facing a Roman Legionnaire, I would want to use my Hook Sword to disarm his shield and maintain my midrange advantage. Midrange combat is the Shaolin’s best hope. I would think that his counters would be an Apache, which has multiple midrange and longrange projectiles yet similar agility, and the Hoplite, which prevents the shield disarming Hook Swords by maintaining distance with the Dory, Xyston or Sarissa spears and thus can outlast the Shaolin as a Tank. Category:Blog posts